Egypt's opposition called for the interior minister to resign on Saturday
after security forces were seen on television beating and dragging a naked
man at a Cairo protest.

Television pictures showing a middle-aged man lying stripped naked and being beaten by police before being hurled into their van rocked Egypt yesterday, the latest gruesome twist in the country's descent into public disorder.

Taken outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Friday night, half a dozen police officers are shown pulling the man, named later as Hamada Saber, 48, towards the van but stopping to kick and punch him before they drive him away.

Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, immediately ordered an investigation. A statement said the presidency was "pained by the shocking footage of policemen dragging a protester in a way inconsistent with dignity and human rights".

But that did not satisfy the opposition, which called for the interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, to resign.

A further row was brewing after the prosecution alleged he had been carrying 18 Molotov cocktails and two jerrycans filled with petrol when he was arrested. His family insisted he was protesting peacefully but had fainted while trying to run away from a police charge, overcome by tear gas.

According to local media, Mr Saber, a construction worker, told prosecutors at the police hospital where he was being treated that he was "surprised" to find his clothes being torn off. He said he asked the officers, from the controversial central security force, to leave him alone, but they continued to beat and insult him.

The attack by protesters on the presidential palace was the culmination of a worsening public order problem since Mr Morsi forced through a new, Islamist-tinged constitution in November. Attackers briefly set fire to a guard-house, before being beaten back with water cannon, buckshot and tear gas. One man, aged 23, was killed.

The violence was condemned by the opposition, led by Mohammed ElBaradei, the former United Nations atomic agency chief, and two defeated presidential candidates, Hamdeen Sabbahy and Amr Moussa.

But they renewed already widespread calls for action against the police after the attack, which was strongly reminiscent of photographs of a young woman protester dragged out of Tahrir Square by military police in December 2011 in such a way that her clothes were lifted to reveal her bra.

Such attacks were supposed to have come to an end with the advent of democracy and the dropping of military rule, but human rights groups say suspects continue to be tortured and beaten to death in custody. In turn, that fuels more protests like Friday's.

Yesterday morning, Hisham Kandil, the prime minister, attempted to visit protesters camped in Tahrir Square but retreated when his motorcade was stoned.

"The horrible and degrading images showing the central security officers and police beating and dragging a naked man near the presidential palace should lead to the interior minister's immediate resignation," said Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front.

Mr Saber's wife, Fathiya, speaking from the hospital, told an independent satellite television station that her husband was "not badly hurt". She also thanked the police for "helping him to receive treatment", leading the anchor to question whether she was talking under duress.